


Words To Live By

by dmux86



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anti-Social Jughead Jones, Author Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper Loves Jughead Jones, Breaking Up & Making Up, Eventual Happy Ending, FBI Agent Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones Loves Betty Cooper, Long-Distance Relationship, Monagamous Jughead Jones, No cheating, One True Pairing, True Love, hate having those last two tags but there's no discount brand Archie here, so figured I should tag him as such, unlike canon or most of the fics I've seen on here lately, wedding and pregnancy at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dmux86/pseuds/dmux86
Summary: "I'm not normal. I'm not wired to be normal." - Jughead Jones"Of course not, don't be silly. You know you're the only man for me." - Betty Cooper
Relationships: Alice Cooper/FP Jones II, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, mentions of Varchie and one-sided Barchie
Comments: 11
Kudos: 35





	Words To Live By

**Betty:**

She smiled and swayed her hips as they sang together, and already her sour mood from the fight with Jughead was lifted as her oldest friend cheered her up as he had a thousand times before. As their song reached it’s end, Betty felt an odd tension as her body drifted closer to his, muscle memory from fake dating mixing with nostalgic memories of a childhood crush to create something new and dangerously exciting.

But when he swung his guitar out of the way she blinked and realized what was about to happen… and stepped back, her mouth snapping shut as she swallowed nervously and looked at Archie’s face, trying to understand what he was thinking but afraid to talk.

Finally she blurted out “I have to go” and bolted to the house next door… her boyfriend’s house, the one she grew up in but that she lived in now only because of his love for her, the one he would come home to later that night with an essay and an apology that she accepted happily, rewarding his renewed dedication to schoolwork in their shared bed.

Thankfully Archie never brought up their near mistake, though she noticed his eyes lingering on her over the following weeks all the way through prom and graduation. But Betty put that behind her, focusing on her love for Jughead, glad she didn’t throw it away in a moment of madness. Instead she and the love of her lift spent their last few months in Riverdale inseparable, savoring their time together even after Charles was found out and the resulting tension between FP and Alice made the home they shared somewhat less than blissful.

Before either of the teens knew it, August came and with it packing, scheduling trips and agreeing to text every day, call at least every other night, and a minimum of two video chats per week. And then they were off, Jughead following behind his Dad's bike in the classic green pickup and Alice and Betty heading east, all her stuff in the back of the Cooper wagon.

**Jughead:**

It would be easy to blame his social life (or lack there of) at Iowa on someone else... Gladys abandoning him freshman year, Brett and Donna's schemes at Stonewall, even the bullying from Reggie and the Blossom twins as children. But the truth is, he liked being left alone even before all of that... he had a small number of loved ones he could trust and spoke to, and that was all he ever really wanted. Parties, whether 10th birthdays with cake and a piñata or 21st birthdays with free flowing booze, never appealed to him. He didn't stop going when middle school came and kids were no longer obligated to invite everyone in their class, instead he started throwing the invitations away long before then.

And it wasn't that he couldn't talk to people at all when he got to campus. He was just as capable of barging into a professor's office at 19 as he was of confronting Mayor McCoy about the Twilight Drive-In as a 15 year old. He could do group projects for class, and even occasionally sat with those classmates in the dining hall for lunch. But he never let anyone in, never talked about anything real or saved anyone's phone number (just typed it in a file on his laptop) to call them up when bored.

That's not to say the events of his high school years, especially the ending at Stonewall, did not play a role. Despite his honest attempts to do so he simply couldn't sleep in the same freshman dorm as some random stranger after living with Brett, so he spent Labor Day weekend moving into a tiny apartment a few miles off of campus, even though his on-campus housing was covered in his generous scholarship. And he was more than fine working the Thursday through Saturday night shifts where most other college kids were out on dates or at parties.

But perhaps more importantly, he gets the little social fixes he needs from his friends from back home. He's part of at least four group texts, he talks to his father, sister, and (step?)mother(in-law?) Alice at least once a week, and of course Betty. He texts her as often as he can, calls her anytime he isn't busy. Sometimes he thinks he's annoying her, the insecure part of him he'd mostly buried over the course of their three year relationship taking full advantage of the (physical) distance between them. Every time she doesn't answer a call and he sees a picture of her on social media the next day he wonders and worries she's going to leave him behind.

Yet he knows he has always and will always only love her and he knows Betty Cooper would never cheat on him, so he calls her again, complimenting her dress from the picture and asking for any funny stories about her new friends.

**Betty:**

Things with Jughead aren't 'perfect', but since she hates that word anyway she doesn't mind. Too much. At first.

He doesn't make any new friends, and constantly wants to talk to her despite the time difference and their increasingly busy schedules. Which would be fine if she didn't have her own things to do that don't quite work with her boyfriend on the phone. She loves when they can properly communicate, especially the nights where her roommate is gone and she can lock the door and enjoy some privacy, but doesn't want to spend the next four years locked in her room talking to just one person either. 

Hearing his jealousy (hidden as best he can but she knows him too well for him to hide that) after a night out is especially grating, and there's a part of her that wants to bring up what (didn't actually) happen with Archie... to prove her loyalty and devotion... but she knows it will sound petty at best, and at worst destroy the friendship (already strained by distance) between the two boys. And besides, Jughead never actually accuses her, or even asks pointed questions about the boys in the pictures he sees.

They make it through till Thankgiving, heading back to Riverdale at last, spending all of Wednesday locked in their shared room, Thursday eating with their shared family, Friday with their friends (most of them, since Archie is oddly the one who doesn't come home), and the Saturday again locked away memorizing each other's tastes and warmth and sounds before leaving at the last minute Sunday morning. This means they completely miss that FP and Alice barely are speaking and JB spends the entire time at the house, not having any friends to hang out with while school is out.

The three weeks between that holiday and the two week winter break are so filled with exams and papers that they actually talk less than even Betty wants. At one point they go 36 hours without even a text, and she nearly panics remember the last time she went so long without communicating with him in any way. An hour long video chat before her shower that night relaxes them both, and then suddenly she's back home.

This time both Betty and her boyfriend notice the strain around the house... JB asks Jughead about being bullied (apparently being held back a year to catch up after Gladys' attempt at homeschooling combined with the drama surrounding her family finally caught up with the younger Jones sibling), FP's clearly not employed and Alice is doing her best to stay sober in solidarity with her struggling boyfriend. 

The younger couple does their best to stay out of it and enjoy their time at home, culminating in a rather dramatic New Year's bash hosted by (single and ready to mingle) Veronica that Archie shows up at, drunkenly singing a love song that nobody is certain is actually about the girl who decided long-distance between them wouldn't work. Betty is terrified the song is for her and leaves as soon as she finishes kissing Jughead at midnight... walking right into a late night argument between FP and Alice at home. 

**Jughead:**

If you had asked Jughead at any point prior to the end of high school if he truly would have minded Alice and FP splitting up, he would have said no. He was happy his Dad was happy, and Alice was significantly more relaxed than when she was with Hal, but deep down there was a part of him that would not have minded avoiding the whole 'our parents' thing with Betty. 

The problem is they haven't broken up yet, still sharing a house, and now that there's no hiding their issues from their college attending children, the arguments start to flair up between the younger couple as well. Oddly enough they are not entirely on the same page as their own parents: Betty agrees with FP that Polly coming home to visit from her care facility is not a good reason for him to 'make himself scarce' since there would be no way for him to do so if (when?) she comes home long-term, while Jughead agrees with Alice that FP doing odds jobs and being a 'house husband' is perfectly fine as there is no pressing financial issues with their household. 

Despite this, he does his best to keep the Riverdale drama from impacting his relationship with Betty... but as the long dull months of winter and early spring stretch out and they talk less and less, Jughead busy working and Betty busy doing seemingly everything from frat parties to scathing editorials in the Yale Daily News, it's harder and harder to avoid the topic when they actually do find time to speak on the phone or through the cameras on their laptops.

It's not till he's on his way home for spring break (doing his best to forget the wistful tone Betty used about Nancy's plans) that he realizes their last three cam sessions have not only involved their parents as much as themselves... but more importantly haven't included even a hint of sex... not even a teasing outfit or promises about what will happen when they are together again. The author in him sees the foreshadowing even before they all get home and, along with JB, they are sat down together in the living room Saturday afternoon to discuss 'the future'. 

FP's gotten in touch with an old buddy from his military days, who was awarded a big contract by the city of Detroit for demolition and remodeling for the next five years. JB has no IRL friends in Riverdale, but plenty of bullies as the old north vs south rivalries have started bubbling up again, and wants a fresh start. Alice says Polly is ready to come home but wants her old room back and to raise the twins in her childhood home.

So, in conclusion, FP has already formally sold the house back to Alice for a pittance (and apparently formally divorced Gladys in there at some point as well) but will be staying in the now mostly finished attic guest room/nursery he'd been working on all winter till JB finishes 8th grade. 

Their screwed up 21st century Brady Bunch experiment is coming to an end, and though both parents assure them that 'Jug Head is of course welcome to stay here anytime' and 'Betty can visit us as often as she wants, hell she can come even if you're not home boy', the realities of nearly a year of long distance make it clear what is coming. 

**Betty:**

They don't break up while home for spring break. In fact they cling to each other, making up for lost time and distance, and given the situation not even Alice Cooper dares to drag them out of the bedroom they will no longer be sharing once summer comes. FP quietly admits one day at lunch, while Alice is at work, that half the reason they didn't break up after Charles was revealed was to give Betty and Jughead a chance to start college with a shared home, to prove they could make long distance work. 

Betty doesn't dare admit that they aren't exactly proving it so far, their relationship barely holding together and deep down she knows having to choose which home to visit each break for the next three (or more, Juggie's already planning his application for the MFA program at Iowa) years is a step too far.

Yet they don't break up, making love together and visiting Pop's (running into Toni in her new Serpent Queen jacket, eyes red after a fight with Cheryl) and all their special places in their small town, including a daring late night break in to the Blue & Gold office. It's an idyllic vacation, and for a time things are going better even after returning to school, their conversations more upbeat (if a tad shallow) than they have been since September. 

Only when exam and final papers take away their time, and the need to plan the logistics of moving back home hits, do the deep but shallow cracks in their foundation become clear as the love of her young life admits he cannot abandon his sister or father. By the time Jughead is back in Riverdale, there's half-packed U-Haul outside and tears in Betty's eyes. They spend one last night together, spending hours naked in the bunker instead of the house for a variety of reasons, and after one last meal of waffles and burgers at Pop's the Jonses leave the town they never quite fit in with correctly. 

Betty is single for the first time since winter of sophomore year, and though she and Jug agree to stay in touch she knows she has to do her best to let him go despite still loving him, to not have him be her first call in the morning and last conversation before bed anymore. Instead she texts all of her girls (and Kevin and Archie of course), letting them know it's officially happened... and reminding them that it is not Jughead's fault, nobody needs to take sides, and anyone who even hints at 'getting over by getting under' is not invited to share in the ice cream she has stocked up at her house. Toni and Archie don't show up, and only later does she realize they are the only two who Jughead texted at all, but the others enjoy a proper summer sleepover, catching up on their year apart and making plans for a summer together in their hometown. 

**Jughead:**

Still wearing the beanie Betty gave him, Jughead helps his family get settled in their new house over the summer, texting Archie and Toni on occasion, and rarely the others he grew up with and graduated alongside, but before he knows it school is back in session and he focus on his academics, looking out for his baby sister, and writing over the next few years.

It was on Jughead’s 21st birthday (just another Sunday spent studying and writing in his cramped apartment two miles off of Iowa’s campus) that he realized he had never once in his life had actually made a friend. 

He wasn’t old enough to sit up on his own, much less introduce himself or choose whether to be friends, the first time FP set him in a crib next to Fred’s redheaded boy. And a few years later, when they were old enough to play in the backyard of the Andrews home on Elm Street, the blonde next door in pigtails had just started joining in one day and he hadn’t had a say in the matter. But he was certainly glad she had, even if their romantic relationship hadn’t survived the distance created by college and the breakup of their parents… though thankfully they had never had any Archie-related drama he’d feared from the moment he’d first kissed her. 

For the next twelve years those two were the only people he called friends, even if he hadn’t really chosen them, as they sat with him at lunch and Pop’s and they had all their innocent adventures. Eventually they dragged others in… a boy who liked other boys (but loved drama), a girl with pearls (and even more daddy issues than Jughead), and so on over the years… but again the boy in a beanie didn’t really have a say in things, it just kept happening around him. Even when he moved to Southside high briefly it looked like he might have been making friends if you were watching from the outside… but he knew, especially in hindsight, that he was simply being recruited into a gang, not truly allowed to chose his companions but forced to take sides. And of course his move to Stonewall Prep had altered the course of his life… but certainly not netted him any friends.

But now, as texts came in from family and RHS Class of 2020 alums (even the blonde who only messaged him two or three times a year since the breakup two summers before), Jughead was acutely aware that not a single message was from someone he’d met at college. Not that he minded… it honestly was socializing that made him miserable, not spending his nights alone watching classic movies and writing. It was only on the nights he simply couldn’t sleep at all that he wished there was someone there to hold and comfort him and talk it out. Someone specific, with soft blonde hair and big green eyes. 

He never even considered dating anyone else, not wanting to be a hypocrite when he knew his heart belonged to another despite the time and distance, and not even knowing how to start doing so... the apps are too impersonal, and he had less than zero desire to attend parties on and around campus or go to bars. FP's seat 'on the wagon' had gotten precarious since the breakup with Alice so his son and daughter were doing their best to support him, including not drinking even now that he was legal.

The following spring he get accepted into the MFA program at Iowa, the letter warranting a post on social media (something he did maybe two or three times a year) and despite it all he grinned like a loon when the first 'like' came from _BCoop2K2_ , and even as he got started on lease renewals and other plans he wondered how and when he would reunite with her, a hand made beanie still sitting in the top drawer of his dresser since he no longer wore it every day. 

**Betty:**

Sophomore year at Yale is her best academically, even if she feels like her heart is aching the entire time. She spends more time in the library, ironically less time at parties than when she had a boyfriend to talk to on Friday nights, and comes out the other side confident they made the right choice. They still text on birthdays and other such occasions, and are still in an overall group chat with the key players from their high school graduating class.

As Veronica put it, they'd all been through too much trauma together to lose touch, no matter how much drama there was. Sometimes Betty wondered if that was really true, watching from the sidelines as Fangs and Kevin and Toni and Cheryl seemed to be off and on on a weekly basis, but so far it seemed to be the case even if there was a slow but steady decline in messages per week. 

Slowly over the course of the year her yearning for him wanes, she gets used to the idea of being single, and slowly starts flirting back when guys hit on her... never daring to go on a date or having any sort of random hookups, but no longer simply ignoring the advances. Nancy notices, and sometimes teases, but doesn't push her to do more.

It is only when she gets back to Riverdale for the summer before Junior Year, where Jughead's absence from her life becomes more noticeable, that she actually has to confront the idea of dating someone else head on. Because less than 24 hours after the window across from hers lights up after the Naval Academy sends her next door neighbor home, Archie shows up at her front door asking if she wants to go to Pop's together. She of course agrees, having not spent any time with him in ages, but as they walk together he starts talking.

He speaks of missed opportunities, of teenage regrets as they reach their twenties, of not seeing what was right in front of him the entire time. There's a small part of her that wants to agree, to find out what could have been, but she cuts him off before he can get too far, telling him "No, Archie, we... we're just friends... and we can't do that. Maybe, maybe it would have worked once upon a time but not anymore. And I could never do that to Jughead"

"But, you two... it's been a full year Betty... are you getting back together or something?" he asks, brown eyes innocent and curious as they stand there talking in the middle of the empty street. 

"No, but... I spent three years telling him over and over that he wasn't my second choice. That I wanted him and only him, that I wasn't interested in you anymore. And if we... if we stayed together any length of time he would find out and assume the worst, and even if he and I are just friends now it would still be... wrong of me" the blonde explains, her own thoughts jumbling together, memories of a 16th birthday party, of a near mistake senior year, of making love in the bunker after giving him a new beanie and assuring him that he was the only man for her all filling her head. Maybe that's not really true, maybe she does need to truly move on... but she knows deep down in cannot be Archie. Or even anyone like him. That's what 15 year old Betty would have wanted, not what 20 year old Betty needs or wants.

Finally the redhead nods, then smiles his charming grin "But we're still getting shakes, right?" and carries on, accepting her rejection with only a hint of hurt that his second oldest friend can see.

They hang out more that summer than they have since before Jason Blossom died, and there's a part of her that wonders if she's letting something good slip away simply for the memory of another boy, but when she sees JB posted a picture of Jughead wearing beanie she made as they all head off to college again she smiles and knows it was the right call.

But at Yale she goes beyond innocent banter, accepting dinner invitations, watching movies, going out dancing with he friends, and even kissing a boy on the swim team but ultimately deciding not to stay together when he brings up commitment and exclusivity. Betty never gets beyond a second date and goodnight kisses with anyone she meets over the next few years, and while she doesn't really feel guilty about it she always ends up dreaming about a dark haired boy in a beanie afterwards. 

After another two years she's done at college, and despite what happened with her half-brother is accepted into Quantico, fast tracking her way to a field analyst position, her career keeping her busy enough that being alone doesn't really register expect on mornings where her bed is a touch too big and cold and empty.

**Jughead:**

He gets an internship at a publishing house in Chicago, delaying his start to the MFA program but (due to his best efforts to be friendly and charming, feeling like a fake the entire time) he manages to get some invaluable contacts. Contacts who read his latest and greatest novel manuscript, a very rough rethinking of his high school days... no twins, no syrup-drug trade, no serial killer fathers, but still a dead teenager whose murder is solved by his classmates along with a dash of romance and family drama.

By the time he graduates from Iowa for the second time, six and a half years after finishing high school, his books has been out for nearly a month (just in time for the holiday rush) but he hasn't told a soul. The title and his pen-name are enough that someone who is looking for it could find it and know it is him... and he hopes that the one person he wants to see the dedication does so.

Even FP and JB just know he's coming home, and that he's saved up enough not to worry about a job for a bit as long as his father doesn't charge him rent or anything. JB herself is at a local community college, living at home and getting the training needed to work at (and someday run) her own repair shop. He settles back in with them, looking forward to a relaxing winter break before figuring out his next steps. He has the means and the desire to track down Betty, but isn't sure what he will find other than an FBI badge (resulting in her more or less vanishing from social media), but his imagination runs wild with possibilities and reunion scenarios.

All of them fall away the week between Christmas and New Years when Toni Topaz calls him up... the first time she's done more than text in over a year, and invites the Jones family back to Riverdale for a wedding... and it's going to be soon since she's pregnant.

**Betty:**

She's read stories (alright, let's be honest, fanfiction) where a girlfriend shows her boyfriend a pregnancy test on Christmas morning and her boyfriend responds with the diamond ring he'd bought while she was away over Thanksgiving... but she doesn't think she's ever heard of someone doing that in real life, much less having the same person give both the pink stick AND the jewelry the way Toni did to her cousin Cheryl. The two of them, plus Betty, Polly, and Veronica who were all in Riverdale for the holidays, celebrated the engagement and immediately began planning the wedding... the happy couple wanting to be legally together before the baby arrived and if possible before Toni started to show.

So the first week of March she was off from work again, though the Tuesday before the Saturday night wedding she had been brought into her bosses office and briefed on a 'developing situation' in Riverdale and Centerville: three missing women, and strange reports of a 'moth man' in the woods. Not officially on the FBI's list yet, but she was told to keep an eye out and if needed stay in town afterwards to take the lead on her first real case.

Wednesday she leaves work at noon, packing her last minute things and heading to the train station to meet up with Veronica in New York and drive in together early the following morning. On the way she stops by a local bookstore, checking out the mystery and thriller section for anything to read on the ride... and right there under the NEW RELEASES banner is a book that makes her heart stop

> _**Sweetwater Slaughter**_ by J Jones III 

She pulls out her phone, checking for any messages or posts she missed, unable to believe she wasn't informed that Jughead's dreams had come true. Maybe she wasn't the first person he would tell, but she had seen his post about the MFA acceptance and he had commented "Congrats Betts" on her post about moving into Quantico and not being able to interact during training. But there was nothing, nothing from Archie or JB or anyone. Maybe it wasn't him, maybe it was (one hell of) a coincidence, but either way she buys the book, not daring to read the back over or open it till she is outside... fearing her reaction if it is dedicated to some flannel wearing hipster he met at college, if that's the reason she wasn't told and hasn't heard from him in years.

As Betty walks outside she opens it up, finding the dedication inside and choking back a sop as she reads

> To my childhood Tracy True...
> 
> Hope you find this clue...
> 
> And know I wrote it all just for you

She wipes away the resulting tears quickly manages to get on her train before texting Toni _Has Jughead RSVP'd?_ , not even trying to be subtle about it, and grins at the quick _He and FP will be here the entire weekend. Did not check the plus one box_ that she gets back. Attending the same wedding, after years apart, and she saw the book on her way there.

Betty Cooper isn't one for 'seeing signs' but this one is impossible to ignore...

**Jughead:**

He and his father fly in Friday afternoon, renting a care and getting checked into the Five Seasons, where FP jokingly asks "Sure you don't want a room of your own boy? Just in case?", earning an eye roll and scoff, though there's a part of Jughead that wonders... but doesn't dare say anything, not wanting to tempt fate or give his dad any more ammunition. 

They change out of their travelling clothes, not into anything too fancy (saving that for the wedding itself) and head to the rehearsal dinner/joint bachelorette party/RHS Class of 2020 reunion being hosted at La Bonne Nuit, but only after Jughead spends a sold ten minutes looking at his beanie and making a decision. 

As soon as they step down the stairs he sees Toni, her belly just the slightest bit swollen on her small frame, and she shouts out "Play it now Fangs!!" as loud as she can when she notices them. 

**Betty:**

Betty is talking to Josie and Veronica when Toni shouts at Fangs and the song switches suddenly from a soft instrumental number to a classic rock anthem, causing the blonde to jump in her sleek blue dress that hugs her curves, glancing around to understand why the one of the brides just asked for The Boys are Back in Town to play, but then she sees exactly why.

FP is hugging the pink haired Serpent Queen, and behind him is the younger Jones... his lean frame dress to impress and wearing the beanie she made for him as he greets Cheryl with a quick and awkward hug. And then the redhead looks over and points right at her, making Betty blush but she doesn't look away, drinking in every detail of the man she has missed for over five years now. 

"Well... we will leave you to it... " V says with a smirk, slipping away with Josie as Jughead gives Toni a hug and talks just long enough to not be rude before walking towards her, nervous but clearly happy to see her.

She's had a couple of days to decide what to do, and chose a purse specifically big enough for what she finally chose... and as he walks up she simply pulls the book, having read it through twice already, and opens it up for him to sign right under the dedication.

**Jughead:**

He sees her pull out the book, and looks away, smiling just a bit before finally getting close enough to speak over the music and crowd noise around them (it dims as they get within arm's length and he honestly doesn't know or care if it's because everyone is watching or because the blonde goddess is overwhelming his senses)

"Did you like it?" he asks, even as he pulls out a pen and looks into her gorgeous green eyes.

"I loved it. Almost as much as I love the author" she replies sincerely, biting her soft and slightly glossy lower lip as he signs it for her. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asks, putting it away.

"Wasn't sure when... or how... or if... if you had... moved on from us" he manages to stammer out, more nervous that he's been since he climbed a ladder into her house nearly a decade before, eyes trailing down to the floor before her gentle hands cup his cheeks and pull his gaze back up.

"Don't be silly... you're the only man for me... " she murmurs, before they kiss... and the crowd behind him cheers.

The next few days are a frenzy of reunions and telling everyone (including his flabbergasted father) about his book deal and dancing and watching two wonderful women profess their love for each other... and just before they leave for a honeymoon, Cheryl insists that all the single ladies gather for a time honored tradition.

But instead of blindly tossing it backwards, she simply turns around and nails Betty right in the face with her bouquet, turning towards Jughead and simply saying "Don't let my cousin down Hobo" before running off with the new Toni Blossom-Topaz.

He steps up, glancing at the flowers then at his second oldest friend... who he has been kissing rather a lot lately. "So... what's next?" 

"Well... there is this missing persons case I was asked to look into... " she replies, her tone and the look in her eyes the same as most girls use when talking about new lingerie, the sort of thing a normal guy would prefer to flirt about.

But Jughead jones was never a normal guy. 

**Author's Note:**

> I keep saying I'm done with this ship/fandom, but keep coming back to it, cranking out another version of how things should have gone. Not satisfied with the ending, might even rewrite it, but figured I should post before I change my mind again. 
> 
> Not at all looking forward to S5 starting this week and the erasure of everything I liked about Jughead. If they are just going to turn him into discount brand Archie (sociable, self confident, sexually promiscuous, etc... ) then why should I care which guy Betty chooses?
> 
> Assuming of course she actually chooses instead of Archie choosing Veronica and forcing Betty to settle again.
> 
> Feel free to hit me up on Tumblr (https://dmux86.tumblr.com/) if you're feeling the same


End file.
